Online Tutoring Roles: Italian Teachers’ Professional Development Experience

The chapter presents a case study of a training course involving Italian early-secondary school teachers, which focuses on online tutors’ activities and roles. After a brief literature review, it relates the topic to the national e-learning training context, clarifying the tutors’ expected tasks within the evaluated teachers’ professional training experience. The aim is to analyze the roles played by tutors in the 2.0 learning environment, exploring when, how and why they used synchronous and asynchronous communicative tools and educational resources available on the e-learning platform, as well the kind of support they provided to learners and the relationship they established with them during the training path. The research describes a complex set of online competences and skills which are required of tutors, stressing the key role of the human factor in supporting learners, and identifies factors for improving the design of an effective online tutoring model for adult learners.